How The Angel Got It's Wings
by purplemonkee
Summary: Ellie DeVorces never expected that deadhead flight with Pan Am to be anything to write home about but that one free flight, it changed her life. Note: I was inspired to write this after that part where Colette flies the plane but I put in my OC.. so yeah.
1. Prologue

Flying, it was all I had ever dreamed of, ever since I was a child. I wanted to defy the confines of gravity and explore the skies. I wanted to be a pilot. My childhood days were spent staring at pictures of airplanes, reading books on aviation, the few that existed at the time. By the age of ten, I knew every inch of ever type of aircraft know to mankind. It was not long before I found out that a person of my gender couldn't be a pilot. At least, that's what they all told me. I was crushed, all my dreams, torn apart. Soon enough, I got over it though and discovered a new career path, the stewardess. Now it wasn't exactly the same as being a pilot, it wasn't all that I had hoped for in life but still, I got to fly on an airplane and get paid for it. Thanks to a family connection I was able to land a job with Trans World Airlines, or TWA, right out of high school. Not only that but I was able to get a job on one of the new clipper crews. I got to travel around the world and it was highly enjoyable but still, I wanted something more...

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><p>AN: It's short and this is going to seem pretty irrelevant for the first little while in the story but trust me, it'll make sense later. I also wanted to give people a sense of the character's mindset (if that makes any sense).<p> 


	2. The Deadhead

Well now you know about my past and whatever but the story really isn't about me, I mean, I guess it sort of is, but it's more about who I met and what happened when I met this person. I had just gotten over a really bad illness that had cost me my voice for the last week. I had to catch up with my crew as soon as possible, so I couldn't miss another day of work waiting for them to come back to New York. They were currently in Kiev, Ukraine, which I guess is technically part of the U.S.S.R but my family and I still consider it Ukraine. Anyways, I was able to catch a deadhead flight through Pan Am. I would've caught a TWA flight but we weren't sending any planes out to Kiev that day so Pan Am kindly gave up the jumpseat on one of their flights. Deadheading was always fun, I got to sit in the cockpit (where I belonged in my opinion) and the pilots were usually pretty interesting people to talk to. What I didn't expect on this flight, was to see one of my old high school friends, Ted Vanderway. We hadn't seen each other in ages and quite frankly, I'd forgotten about him so walking into the cockpit and seeing him was a real surprise. At first he didn't seem to recognized me, then for a second he looked rather puzzled, then said:

"Ellie? Ellie DeVorces?"

I nodded, "Yup that's me!"

He got up to greet me, "It's me, Ted, we sat together in math and french all throughout high school"

"I remember," I said, smirking, "Fun times,"

"That's one way to put it," he mumbled

The captain turned around to face us, obviously puzzled,"Wait what the hell is going on? You two know each other?"

"No shit sherlock," Ted retorted "You think I just go around to random stewardesses, telling them that we went to school together"

"Sounds like you" the captain sniggered, I couldn't help but to crack a smile.

Ted was not amused, "Yeah, very funny now how about, instead of wasting time making fun of me, we all get acquainted"

"Okay," the captain said, still smirking, "The name's Dean, Dean Lowry"

"Ellenora DeVorces" I replied, "But really, call me Ellie"

"I'm Sanjiv!" the navigator quipped, obviously feeling forgotten, I gave him a nod of acknowledgement.

There was a brief awkward silence, then Dean spoke "Sooo, you and Ted went to high school together,"

"Yup," I affirmed, "I've got the yearbooks to prove it"

Dean and Sanjiv exchanged amused glances then started to laugh hysterically. At first I wasn't exactly sure whether they were laughing at my comment or if they were laughing at the prospect of Ted being in high school (I'm a little slow on these things you see).

"You are gonna have to show us those when we get back home" Dean managed to spit out between laughing fits. "Ha! I wonder what his senior pictures look like. And, and his yearbook quote"

He and Sanjiv burst out into and even more intense laughing fit, at this point they were nearly falling out of their chairs. I thought they were about to die when one of the stewardesses came in, to check on us before take off.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" she inquired, "Is there something I can get you"

The crew members all managed to shake their heads, Dean and Sanjiv were still getting over their laughing fits.

"I don't suppose that you would have any donuts," I asked.

She looked at me, slightly puzzled, "Umm, donuts...I don't think that we have any, I'll see what I can do," and with that, she left the cabin.

"Donuts?" Dean queried, "I didn't know that stewardesses ate those"

I gave him a look that basically told him to shut the hell up and fly the plane. As we took off, I was mesmerized. I mean, it wasn't like I hadn't been in a cockpit before during takeoff but it just got me every time. I couldn't take my eyes off the yoke. I knew that it should be me in that captains chair, that it should be my hands on the yoke, that I should be responsible for the lives on this plane. Not that Dean wasn't a good pilot or anything, I'm sure Pan Am wouldn't have hired him if he wasn't, I just felt as though I had been robbed of something and that something was my dreams. I snapped out of my daydream as we reached cruising altitude. Well I didn't exactly snap out of it myself, it was more like I was snapped out of it by none other than Ted.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, "You alright?"

I shook my head, getting back to reality, "Yeah, yeah I'm fine, just uhh, not used to uhh being in the cockpit I guess"

"And how long have you been doing this?" Dean asked.

"Three months," I answered, "Why?"

"Well you must've deadheaded lots before," he speculated

"Not that often," I fibbed. Truth be told I had deadheaded a fair amount but I didn't want to tell him that. I mean, I had only known him for less than an hour and I wasn't exactly prepared to explain my whole dream of flying story. He appeared to be buying my story so far. At this point I wasn't exactly expecting to see him after this one flight so I could keep up my act.

After a few more minutes, Ted and Sanjiv decided to go annoy the stewardesses a bit. I decided that instead of being completely awkward that I'd make a little small talk with Dean.

"Sooo," I started, "Whatcha gonna do in Kiev?"

"I dunno," he replied, "Go to some bars, see a few sights, pick up girls with Ted, the usual"

I rolled my eyes, "Typical"

"And what are you planning on doing during your layover?" he inquired.

"Well, I am going to explore my homeland and try not to get lost." I told him.

"You're Ukrainian?" he exclaimed, surprised.

"Well technically I'm not Ukrainian, my grandmother lived there and my mom was born there, I've never been"

"Hey! If you don't have any plans, I could show you some sights or whatever," Dean suggested, "Wouldn't want you to get lost" he smirked.

"That'd be nice," I responded, not exactly thinking it through.

Just then Ted and Sanjiv came back.

"Hope you two didn't have too much fun," Ted joked.

I responded to his comment by elbowing him in the stomach.

"God dammit," he cursed, "I forgot how much that hurt, you really haven't changed have you."

"I've changed more than you have," I retorted, "I'll bet you still can't dance"

Dean and Sanjiv were clearly entertained by all of this. Ted, on the other hand was not amused. Basically the rest of the flight was spent annoying the hell out of Ted and coming up with ways to use a pilot's uniform (this was after Sanjiv had made the claim that Dean uses his to pick up women). I had never had so much fun while deadheading and I had a good feeling about Kiev.

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><p>Author's post-chapter ramblings: Okay I have no idea why I'm writing this, I just came up with the idea out of almost nowhere. Anyways hopefully you find this story at least semi enjoyable, constructive criticism is welcome (no I'm not going to get all pissed at you for offering it, trust me I can deal with someone telling me that there's something wrong with my work). Yeah...I know there's a shitload of dialogue in this chapter but I wanted to show the characters interacting rather than being like *person* said that they were going to do this and then *other person* said that that was a good idea. If you have a problem with lots of dialogue let me know and I shall try to make it better.<p> 


	3. Home at Last

AN: okay so I realized that I spelled Dean's last name wrong last chapter but I can explain. You see there's this teacher at my school who's last name is Lowry, without an "e" as you can see so since I'd never seen Dean's last name spelled out before I wrote that chapter I just assumed that it was spelled the same way then I found out otherwise. Just thought I'd clear that up. Oh and I did "intensive" character study on Dean (I have notes to prove it) to try and make him more in character so hopefully my attempts succeeded. Alrighty now here we goooo...

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><p>After a long yet enjoyable flight, we finally reached Kiev. Getting off the plane I could feel my heart pounding, faster and faster. As soon as I stepped onto the tarmac, I wanted to just kiss the ground but honestly, it was too damn filthy and the last thing I wanted to do was get sick again. I paused, taking it all in. I felt strangely at home. Even though I'd never been here before, I felt some sort of connection with the ground, the sky, the signage, everything around me. My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Dean, who was the only one off the plane after me.<p>

"Are you just gonna stand there or are you coming?" he asked, startling me a bit.

I shook my head a bit, bringing it back to earth "Yeah, yeah, I'm right behind you" I said, smiling "I just- I can't believe I'm here"

"Well if you don't get moving then I guess you're gonna be stuck here alone," his tone was one that I've always had trouble describing. It was sort of that tone that men tend to use when they're trying to get you to go somewhere with them, sort of flirty sounding.

"No, no, I'm coming" I assured him.

We started walking towards the terminal to catch a cab.

"Hey, just out of curiosity, what hotel are you at?" I inquired.

"Some place called Hotel-" he paused on the name "Ukrayina, I think. Why?"

"Oh nothing-" I responded, smirking a little, "I just happen to be staying there as well"

"Oh really?" he teased "I guess you have no excuse to bail on me then"

"And why would I want to bail on you?" I asked, flirting a little.

Dean just shrugged "Never can tell with girls like you."

I scoffed, "Girls like me?"

"You know," he said "Deadheads"

I smiled, "Well I guess I just care enough not to let you loose yourself"

He turned to me, looking confused "Wait, I thought I was supposed to be saving you from getting lost"

"Well, I'm sure that you know your way around but I didn't know that you could read the cyrillic alphabet and speak ukrainian" I said, cynically.

"You speak ukrainian?" he asked, suprised.

"Yup" I answered, "I mean, everything here's gonna be in russian, with the soviets and all but I'm much better off trying to decode russian than you are"

"Can't argue with that" he agreed

We continued our conversation for the whole cab ride to the hotel. It was mostly pointless banter and a bit of flirting. When we reached the hotel it turned out that our rooms just happened to be next to each other.

"What are the odds?" I jested, with a clear, flirty undertone in my voice "Well, I guess I'll see you in about an hour then"

"An hour?" Dean boggled "How long does it take to get changed?"

"Well I've gotta have a shower as well, it helps my jet lag" I explained, "And then I have to set my hair and do my makeup so I'll be an hour if I hurry"

"Okay" he agreed, sounding slightly reluctant "Just don't leave me hanging"

I shot him a smirk and went into my room. Despite my exhaustion I hurried out of my uniform and into the shower. I probably made it in and out of there in record time, for me anyways. When picking out clothes I was once again reminded why overpacking is not a good idea, especially in a situation like this. I was probably treating this little outing too much like a date but hell, I was starting to really like Dean. Okay so maybe I really liked him but whatever. I finally chose to wear my polka dot dress that I had bought on my first trip to Paris. Afterwords I quickly did my makeup and finished setting my hair. I was then ready to head out.

I looked over at the clock, it had taken me a surprising forty five minutes to do everything. I was pretty damn proud of myself for that. I smiled as I walked next door to Dean's room. I knocked on his three or four times, he was quick to answer.

"You're early" he said, stating the obvious.

"But I'm not late," I countered, "Can I come in?"

"I thought we were going out," he paused, "Unless of course, you'd rather stay in"

"Lead the way," I offered, gesturing at the hall"

He stepped out in front of me, I swore I saw him wink at me but I could have been seeing things. Either way, I followed, smiling uncontrollably. At this point, I felt like this would turn out to be the best night of my life.

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><p>AN: okay so maybe the ending of that chapter was a little awkward but I tried okay. God and dialogue tags, don't even get me started on how difficult those are to pick, if you have any tips for writing dialogue please let me know and I will give you a theoretical donut. But seriously, I suck at dialogue tags.<p> 


	4. Ніч, щоб пам'ятати A Night to Remember

**AN:** okay so I just wanted to say that yes, Colette is going to appear in the story at one point but not for a little while. Trust me I've got all of this planned out and no I will not show anyone the plot outline I created because A) I want you to actually read the story instead of my plot outline and B) it's a mess. Oh and by the way I've never actually been to Ukraine (but I have Ukrainian heritage!) , much less Kiev so I did all my research about the city online and I looked up what places were called in 1963. I may have some facts wrong so you can correct me if there are any historical inaccuracies (although some minor things, I may have done for effect in which case I will let you know when you correct me). P.S. I don't speak Ukrainian either (thanks to the prejudices of the past) so I used google translate on the chapter title, it might be wrong, just sayin'. Now back to the story! (random fact: I'm not the greatest at writing romance scenes, despite that I'm a hopeless romantic, so bear with me)

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><p>It was starting to get dark in Kiev. Dean and I stepped out of the hotel into the beautiful Kalinin square. It was the most amazing thing I had seen in my life, at least up to this point (and trust me, I had already seen a lot). I froze, storing at the high rise clock on the Trade Union House.<p>

"Well c'mon" Dean said, urging me on, "You wanna see the city right?"

"Alright, you lead while I attempt to tell you what the signs say" I suggested.

After wandering around a bit I found that Dean honestly had no idea what he was doing so we ended up buying a cheap map for about 50 kopek. Thankfully we had both picked some up at the airport before leaving.

"So, I guess you don't know Kiev that well after all" I said, suspiciously.

"Guess it's just uh, been awhile" he said, trying not to sound guilty.

"Well don't think for a second that I'm gonna just let you off easy," I told him, "You still have to take me to see the landmarks"

"On one condition," he added, "You have to read the map"

"Fine," I agreed, "But don't blame me if I get it wrong, remember, I don't speak russian"

"You got yourself a deal" he declared as we shook on it.

We walked around for hours exploring the city. We saw sights such as 's square and 's cathedral (you know, the golden domed one). I was able to do a half decent translation on the map and as it turned out, Dean had a bit of an idea where he was going. After a little more wandering, I started to feel my stomach growling.

"I don't suppose you'd know of any good places to eat" I asked.

"Well I know of some vendors that sell some superb cabbage rolls" he suggested, half joking.

"You mean holubtsi" I said, correcting him, "Cabbage roll is just a name english speakers came up with when they couldn't be bothered to pronounce Ukrainian words"

"Well sorry, I didn't realize that you were so...patriotic" he said "Anyways, it's your first trip home, you should eat at a proper restaurant"

"Alright then," I agreed, "Find us a place to eat"

"How about over there?" he pointed to some small cafe on the nearest street corner.

"Why the hell not" I said, throwing my arms up like I really didn't care.

The place turned out to be alright, I mean sure, their pyrohy weren't fried that well and the holubtsi wasn't my baba's but in all I'd say that I enjoyed the meal. Hell, I'd even say that just being with Dean made up for the not-so-great parts of the meal. I was getting to like him more and more by the minute. I was starting to feel something between us, not that we'd known each other for very long but I just...knew. The sky was almost completely dark by the time we'd finished the meal but neither of us wanted to go back to the hotel just yet. At this point I sort of felt like dancing.

"Hey!" I exclaimed, "Let's go find a dance club!"

"You wanna go dancing?" he said, looking at me strangely.

"Yeah, c'mon" I said, urging him on, "It'll be fun"

"Alright, I'm in" he said, agreeing "Just be warned, I'm not exactly a stellar dancer"

"Look, as long as you're better than Ted, that's good enough for me" I joked "And trust me, it's not hard to beat Ted's dancing skills"

We smiled at each other and headed off to find a club.

Eventually we found some place that was blaring rock and roll music, which we both liked so we went in. As soon as we were in the door I got this huge adrenaline rush (which I guess is not unusual for me when I hear loud music). I hurried over to the dance floor, dragging Dean with me.

"Well it looks like somebody's eager to dance" he said, observing my energy.

"Look" I said, stopping in my tracks "There are three things you should know about me, one: I am extremely vain, two: I'm a dreamer and three: I'm crazy as shit, which means I fucking love to dance"

"And you talk like a sailor" he added.

"Got a problem with that?" I said, demandingly.

He gave me a crooked smile, "Not at all"

"Good" I said, smiling back. "Now let's dance"

I continued to drag Dean over to the centre of the dance floor. I started to dance like there was no tomorrow then before I knew it, Dean grabbed me (god knows how he managed to get a hold of me) and pulled me extremely close to himself. My heart started to pound furiously.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked, staring into his eyes.

"I dunno" he said tilting his head to the side "Just felt right"

I cracked a smile "Works for me"

We continued to dance, staying extremely close to each other the whole time. Of course no night out is complete without alcohol so we both had a few drinks. By the time we got out of the club, I was most definitely tipsy. I wasn't drunk or incoherent or anything, just a little giggly. We wandered around for a bit, well it was more like Dean wandered while making sure I didn't loose my balance. I already have the ability to fall anywhere, pair that with a few drinks and walking becomes difficult. We ended up looking over the Dnieper River. It was such an amazing view, especially at night. I was completely lost in that view, I snapped out of it when I started to fall over, fortunately Dean was able to catch me.

"Dreaming again?" he asked while helping me regain my balance.

"I did warn you, "I reminded him while turning to face him.

"Y'know, I've been wondering this whole time, why does a girl like you decide to become a stewardess?" he inquired.

"Being a stewardess isn't a crappy job if that's what you're saying" I told him

"I know it's just, you seem like the type of person who could do greater things" he explained.

I cocked my head, looking puzzled "What do you mean?"

"You just seem like you could, I dunno, rule the world" he suggested

I laughed, "You wanna know why I chose to be a stewardess?" I paused thinking of how to put it, "Well I've always wanted to fly, at first I wanted to be a pilot but for a girl that's not exactly a possibility, anyways, I also wanted to see the world, discover a new place everyday. I love how in this job you just never know what's next"

"Well it's certainly no desk job, that's for sure" he said

"Let me put it to you this way" I started "Today I fell in love and tomorrow, I don't know what's gonna happen but I know it's gonna be one hell of a day. Does that make sense to you?"

He answered me in a very clear manner, not with words but with a passionate kiss. I didn't know how to react, it just happened so suddenly. I decided to just go with it. After what felt like hours, I finally broke away.

"Well shit" I said, slightly out of breath "That was-unexpected"

"Is that good or bad?" he said, confusedly.

"It's-" I paused trying to find the right words, quickly giving up "Y'know, I've had too many drinks to put that into words"

"Well Ellie, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship" he said, quoting Casablanca, I think he was half joking when he said it but I really didn't care. I'm a sap and I fall for that kind of stuff"

"How did you know I love Casablanca?" I asked.

"You just seem like that type of girl" he teased.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I inquired

"You're just-" he started "You're something else"

I was starstruck, no one had told me anything like that before. I had been called pretty, intelligent and all that crap, but I had never been called 'something else'. Honestly, it meant a lot to me.

"You mean that?" I said, looking deep into his eyes "It's not just the booze telling me a load of bullshit?"

"Oh god, did I have that much?" he said, sort of ruining the moment.

We both let out a small laugh. Then out of the distance we could hear the church bells ringing from St. Michael's. Twelve times.

"Midnight? Already?" he exclaimed in shock "I thought the night had just begun"

"We really should get back" I said, even though it sort of killed me inside "I have an 8 o'clock flight tomorrow morning"

"Whatever you say" he said in agreement "But if you get restless, I'm right next door"

I slapped him playfully on the arm.

"You have a dirty mind, I did not mean it like that" he said, defending himself, "I just meant, y'know if you can't sleep and need talk to someone, I'm right here but I mean of course, if you want to we can-"

I shook my head "I may have had a few drinks but I haven't lost all my inhibitions, not to mention that I just met you"

"Hasn't stopped people before" he countered.

"You should really learn to keep your mouth shut on occasion." I joked.

"Hey!" he said, backing away "I'm not the one who brought it up"

I just laughed and shook my head as we walked back to the hotel. Fortunately I had regained most of my balance so I could walk without Dean having to hold me up.

When we got back to the hotel it was nearly one in the morning, but at this point I honestly didn't care. When we got back to our rooms I was a little sad, I didn't want this night to end but I guess all good things had to.

"Well, I had a good time tonight" I told Dean "Really, it was fun"

"Yeah, it was" he agreed.

"Hey, you're flying into New York tomorrow right?" I asked.

"Yeah" he responded, "Why?"

"I just thought, y'know, maybe we could meet up, it's a Saturday so neither of us have to work the next day"

"Sure" he said "Where should I meet you, my flight gets in around 1 p.m. so we could meet at the Pan Am terminal around 1:30"

"Works for me" I said, "See you then"

And with that we went our separate ways, taking one last look at each other. I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe what had happened today. I could not even describe how I felt, all I knew was that it was a really good feeling. God dammit I was in love, nothing else mattered. Dean was right, this was the start of a beautiful friendship.

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><p>AN: once again, the dialogue tags gave me hell. Seriously I spent forever just trying to figure them out and ended up going with "said" a lot (I keep wanting to use bitched but that's more of a tag for comedic writing). I realize that this whole story is pretty much dialogue but my writing style is based more on script writing which is basically dialogue and since I can't write this as a screenplay..well...you get the point. Also, I know it seems like there aren't very many characters from the show appearing but they will, trust me, like I said, I haz plans. So be patient (and yes I plan on finishing this story). Oh and one more thing, if you're ever interested in seeing Ellie's outfits that I mention just message me and I can send you a picture cause all the clothes I'm describing in this story (minus the TWA uniform) are based of of ones that I own so yeaahhh...that is all for now. Okay I should really stop rambling in my author's notes. WAIT WAIT one more thing, I wrote these pan am crackfics that my friend finds hilarious and I'm wondering if I should post them, I mean everyone's out of character but I think it's worth it just for Ted doing barrel rolls but yeah I wanna know if any of you peoples would read them and possibly enjoy them. LEMME KNOW. k i'm done now.<p> 


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